BMW tweaks the best-selling 518d and 520d for more power and economy

BMW has mildly tweaked the diesel variants of its 5 Series sedan in the UK. The car will be available from September 2014 in Great Britain. The engine is a new generation turbocharged 2.0-litre oil burner which claims to improve the performance, fuel-economy figures and emission levels.

The engine named B47 was first seen in the facelifted X3 and uses the latest common rail injector technology. The new power output of the 518d is 148bhp and 400Nm which means a hike of 7bhp and 20NM. The 520d now makes 187bhp and 400Nm of torque, a raise of 3bhp and 20Nm over the older car. The eight-speed gearbox also gets tweaked to increase the fuel efficiency. A six-speed manual transmission will be a standard fare on both the models. 

In the efficiency front the 518d now returns an impressive figure of 65.7 mpg (23.2 kmpl) in the UK driving cycle. The 520d returns an even impressive 68.9 mpg (24.3 kmpl).

In India, we don’t get the 518d and we can expect the changes in the 520d’s UK model to be brought here once it goes on sale there. It may not be offered with the manual transmission here but we will get the eight-speed automatic gearbox mated to the 2.0-litre B47 mill when the updated 520d is launched here.

BMW 5 Series first drive